The Voord

Good idea for a thread, Bronty. Last week I received three more Movie Poster artworks. If you want to see what else I got, check out my CAF at: http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1865 I post lots of additional images, in addition to the write-ups, so ought to be worth a look for those of you interested in such things. Here's one of my three new acquisitions . . . Original conceptual movie poster painting for the 1974 controversial presentation, The Night Porter, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling. I remember seeing this movie during the time of its release. A strangely compelling tale, but one that ultimately leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Artist Vic Fair’s conceptual painting is a clever piece of design work. The (then) modern day continuing sado-masochistic relationship between the Bogarde and the Rampling characters are seen in the wardrobe’s front glass mirror reflection, with Bogarde in his Night Porter uniform almost seamlessly merging with the SS uniform hanging in the wardrobe’s interior. The blank area to the right of the artwork leaves an open area where cast and production details would have been added as captioned text in any resulting final design – though in this case the movie’s distributors ultimately opted for a photographic montage poster campaign that is actually very effective (see additional image as posted in my CAF). "The Night Porter (Italian: Il portiere di notte) is a 1974 Italian erotic psychological drama film. Directed and co-written by Liliana Cavani, the film stars Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling, and features Philippe Leroy and Gabriele Ferzetti. Its themes of sexual and sadomasochistic obsession have made the film controversial since its initial release, with critics being divided over the film's artistic value. The Night Porter is widely considered to be a Nazisploitation film and a cult classic. The film depicts the political continuity between wartime Nazism and post-war Europe and the psychological continuity of characters locked into compulsive repetition of the past. On another level it deals with the psychological condition known as Stockholm Syndrome. The movie also raises the issue of sleeper Nazi cells and their control. More basically, it explores two people in an uneasy yet inextricably bound relationship within the context of a greater political malaise during and after World War II. Lucia (Rampling) is not specifically identified as Jewish but as the daughter of a socialist. Max seems to have a guilt complex, given he's afraid of the light, and lives a modest lifestyle after the war. Allusions to sexual ambivalence can be seen in his relationship with the epicene male ballet dancer. In responses to The Night Porter, Cavani was both celebrated for her courage in dealing with the theme of sexual transgression and, simultaneously, castigated for the controversial manner in which she presented that transgression: within the context of a Nazi Holocaust narrative. The film has been accused of mere sensationalism: film critic Roger Ebert calls it "as nasty as it is lubricious, a despicable attempt to titillate us by exploiting memories of persecution and suffering," while Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide in 2005 called it "sleazy" and "bizarre". In The New York Times, Nora Sayre praised the performances of Bogarde and Rampling, and the "dark, rich tones" of the cinematography, but began her review by writing "If you don't love pain, you won't find "The Night Porter" erotic—and by now, even painbuffs may be satiated with Nazi decadence." Vincent Canby, another prominent critic for The New York Times, called it "romantic pornography" and "a piece of junk". In her essay for the Criterion Collection release, Annette Insdorf called The Night Porter "a provocative and problematic film . . . It can be seen as an exercise in perversion and exploitation of the Holocaust for the sake of sensationalism. On the other hand, a closer reading of this English-language psychological thriller suggests a dark vision of compelling characters doomed by their World War II past."

My third and final movie poster update has now been added to my CAF gallery. Vic Fair's original conceptual movie poster painting for the 1974 controversial presentation, THE NIGHT PORTER, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling. I remember seeing this movie during the time of its release. A strangely compelling tale, but one that ultimately leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Here's a link to my CAF Galleries for those of you interested in such things: http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1865 Thanks for looking. Terry Doyle

Now added to my CAF gallery, the second of three movie poster painting updates. Artwork for this one (a British sex-comedy) is by Sam Peffer, whose best known work was for the covers of the paperback James Bond novels published by Pan Books in the 1950s and 1960s, for which he created a consistent and distinctive style. Here's a link to my CAF Galleries for those of you interested in such things: http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1865 Thanks for looking. Terry Doyle

Voord-up is I like the Voord . . .

As a quick P.S., Roger Clarke will be updating his web-site with more JEFF HAWKE offerings in the near future (he's currently in possession of a new batch of originals). They are affordable, so well worth looking out for.

Currently making its way back to the UK, via a side-trip to the USA, is this cracking example from the British science-fiction strip JEFF HAWKE, as illustrated by Sydney Jordan (with a terrific assist, here, by Colin Andrew). This particular daily comes from the 1960 adventure, ‘Survival’, something that I consider to be an artistic highpoint for the strip (and a really neat dark, moody and claustrophobic pot-boiler of a story). The artwork for this serial is of a consistently high-standard throughout the 71 dailies that comprise the storyline, with few (if any) lacklustre examples. My introduction to the serial . . . “Whilst on a deep space voyage, Jeff Hawke’s spacecraft is accidently shot down by a strange alien craft onto a nearby asteroid, with one of the crew members badly injured during the crash-landing. To help make amends for their tragic error, the aliens who caused the accident, “repair and improve” the dying crewman . . . with resulting grave consequences that will soon unfold for Jeff and his team.” This particular daily is, to my mind, a standout example from a standout serial. Panel one sets the stage as Jeff and his crew put into position the strange alien cylinder that contains the ‘repaired and improved’ crewman. Panel two sees Jeff cautiously unscrewing the end of the life-healing cylinder . . . leading into a wonderful cliff-hanger of a third and final climactic panel in which the altered ‘Mac’ slowly emerges . . . eyes glowing strangely. My thanks to Roger Clarke for turning-up for me another exemplary and fondly-remembered example from this long-running, highly-regarded British science-fiction strip . . . and a tip of the old hat to Chris Killackey for helping to rekindle my interests in the work of Sydney Jordan. http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=1865

Excellent review, thanks for posting this!

Far as I'm aware, the Doctor doesn't contribute anything to any of the discussions going on these forums and seems more concerned about getting hits for his art on CAF (or attracting would-be buyers). He seems to be struggling trying to get the multiple-thousand views his stuff seemingly once attracted . . . I take it CAF fixed the apparent loophole for members to push-up the counts on their own stuff? He has some great art, for sure, but . . . sorry, a lot of those counts seem artificially-high to me?

I should be having an art update towards the end of next week for three more movie poster paintings. Originally, I was going to limit my selection to 12 originals, but my collecting approach has always been flexible and I thought, "What the heck, I really like this art-form . . ." Currently, I'm in the process of going the route of shifting some high-end American covers from my collection to help consolidate my early-retirement funds (seeing as the exchange rate is very favourable for me at the moment). The monthly allowance I've allocated for myself gives me spare cash to pursue more modestly-priced originals. Fact is, quite a few of these movie poster paintings are very reasonably priced and I can afford them, so why not . . . Sadly, British veteran poster artist Vic Fair passed away over this past weekend (I did make a short post about this earlier on in the thread). He was an incredible talent, capable of creating unusual and provocative movie poster designs. I'd actually enquired after two of Vic Fair originals from his UK agent just shortly before I'd learned of the artist's passing, which was purely co-incidental. One of the originals I'm expecting is for one of Vic's (highly-finished) concept designs for the controversial 1974 movie, 'The Night Porter'. The ensuing advertising campaign mostly went the route of photographic imagery, so this particular concept painting was never used. You'll be able to see the image next week when I post my update . . .

Brian, wonderful image for an incredibly funny movie I remember seeing at the time of its UK release. I'm not convinced that your art was ever used for the UK advertising campaign (front-of-house movie poster display) as my country had moved away from the American one-sheet (portrait format) design some time earlier to go for the quad (landscape format) design. Only two quad designs, likely to have been used in the UK, that I can find are the following (one of these is a re-release of the movie, teamed-up with the Australian sex-comedy Alvin Purple):

I like lots of different artworks, so collect lots of different artworks. Diversification keeps the hobby fresh for me and I remain open to new areas of art to explore (I'm into movie poster artworks at the moment, which look wonderful framed and on display on the walls of my house and most visitors are impressed by what they see, as most people connect with the cinema as an entertainment medium). Expecting this Vic Fair concept art for the 1967 British movie 'Charley Bubbles' to arrive next week, along with two other paintings (sadly, Vic Fair passed away over the weekend):

Just heard the sad news that Vic Fair died over the weekend. R.I.P, Mr Fair.

Not exactly a subject, within this price guessing game, that I'm about to beat myself up over. Had the character died at the end of the GA, yeah, I could see there being a limited buying audience for this era of OA collecting. Sure, an earlier peak-period WWII action-orientated example would have been more exciting and desirable, no denying that, but as the one known surviving cover example from the original run, I would have thought the competition for this rare gem would have been more intense. It wasn't (not that $77,675 is exactly chump-change). No big deal to me either way . . . the market has spoken and I misjudged the potential importance of this cover to Captain America OA collectors . . . end of story.

Only KNOWN cover from the first run series, so it's not exactly that you're spoilt for choice, is it?

Insurance is a sea of red tape, so good luck with that one! Personally, I always opt for a Global Express-type delivery with a three-day delivery window that is fully-trackable and requires a signature from the recipient.

I imagine fees for an IWT vary from bank to bank (and as I don't keep records of past transactions, I can't help you on that one, sorry). Your best option is to consult your own bank directly for further advice. Fees are also involved in overseas transactions with Paypal. Your opening question was about the safest way to accept an overseas payment, not which method was the most cost-effective!

I live in the UK. For high-end sales I ask for an International Wire Transfer. For lower-end transactions I'd only accept a Paypal payment if I know the buyer (or know he or she has a good reputation in the OA community).

This is me responding to me (don't ask . . .). Would have thought the Cap cover had gone for much higher than the $77,675 hammer price. A one known cover from the original run??? Any Cap fan worth his salt should have gone all-out to secure that little prize . . . Terry Doyle (making his new ID fully-known, as he's not a fan of anonymous posting)

Thanks. I have been in contact with CGC about this problem but haven't quite figured out what needs to be done (probably down to my stupidity). Fact is. my old account was registered when I had another computer and different e-mail account. My old e-mail address and password is now forgotten by me, so every time I tried to log back into the system I couldn't progress any further. Retaining my old account is not too important in the grand scheme of things as my new board ID is fine for posting new stuff. Anyways, thanks for the advice, appreciated!

Hi Terry Doyle here (I somehow managed to lose my old account with the CGC re-shuffle and have had to create a new one). Thanks to the weakening £ against the $, I've figured now is a good time to take advantage of the exchange rate and shift a few more high-end covers from my collection (all for the sole purpose of consolidating my retirement funds!). I've posted a separate list of 4 x 1960 Large Art covers (currently on consignment with Mike Burkey) over in the Marketplace forum. A fifth (Steve Ditko) cover has already found a new owner. Head over there for more details, if you feel so inclined, thanks. Terry

Hi Terry Doyle here (I somehow managed to lose my old CGC account in the re-shuffle and have had to create a new one!). I currently have 4 vintage covers on consignment with Mike Burkey (the exchange rate between the USA and UK works in my favour, so now's a good time to sell some more high-end items from my collection). I actually consigned 5 covers with Mike and 1 cover pretty much sold straight away. Here are the 4 covers: CAPTAIN ATOM # 80 cover (1966) by Steve Ditko (with Rocke Mastroserio inks) - $45,000 NUKLA # 4 cover (1966) by Steve Ditko (with Sal Trapani inks) - $35,000 CAPT. SAVAGE & HIS LEATHERNECK RAIDERS # 2 (1968) by Ayers (with Syd Shores inks) - $20,000 (great HYDRA origin issue and a stunning cover image) SEA DEVILS # 25 (1965) by Howard Purcell - $20,000 I've already sold a Ditko cover, separate to the above list, so this presents a good opportunity to score one of the other two remaining 1960s Ditko superhero covers (which very seldom surface for sale). All covers are LARGE ART examples. Potentially interested buyers should discuss directly with Mike. Thanks for looking! Terry Doyle